Faorn in Minnesota
by EowynsPen
Summary: Faorn, a shapeshifter from the book "The Between," has been sent to earth from her medieval-type homeland to study it. She meets up with Chris, from the book "Playing God," and he shows her around. She does not understand cars. Mass hilarity ensues. Xover
1. The Magical Sliding Glass Door

**Note: This is a crossover fanfic between **_**Playing God**_** and **_**The Between.**_** Most likely, you haven't heard of either of these books, so I will explain: **_**Playing God**_** takes place in modern Minnesota and is about a guy named Chris who was framed as a bank robber and has now teamed up with an ancient species known as the Hyiephyr to rule the world. **_**The Between**_** is a fantasy epic involving a young woman named Faorn who is a shape-shifter and is friends with a mage, who told her about Chris's/Our world. For the sake of privacy, the author's names have been changed.**

**Each section will be written by a different author. This one was done by Adri. Have fun!**

**Adri will be writing in this color**

**Stephanie will be writing in this color**

_E_very world is parallel to each other—every world has a portal, a rift in space and time. In the world of Natarvra, the rift is commonly known as the _Between_. Meet the characters from two different worlds. A Natarvric girl, who ends up in the blue world, that the inhabitants call Earth. A twenty-three year old man who has seen the species which walked the Earth years before the dinosaurs roamed the lands. A young girl, who in reality isn't that young, is very fond of peanut butter sandwiches. And on top of it all, two writers from Minnesota

Faorn gasped and fell out of the rift with the grace of a cow. She grunted as her back hit the ground with a thump. This was all her friend's doing. Vactriona, her mage friend, wanted Faorn to go the blue world and discover things. At first, Faorn had no clue what Vactriona meant. But then the mage told her that the humans in the blue world, Earth, could cast light in a flick of a switch without using magic. Vactriona had also said magic was not real on the blue planet. That shocked Faorn. How could a world survive without magic? The mages controlled natural disasters, as well as making work easier.

Faorn slowly sat up, and looked around. It looked like autumn. That was a good sign. The blue world had seasons like Natarvra. A crisp red leaf floated down from above. She glanced up, and saw the trees towering above her. Getting to her feet shakily, she made her way through the forest. As soon as she begun, she realized that she was still wearing her favorite short-sleeved shirt. She rubbed her arms. She weaved between the trees, every part of the forest the same as the forests in Natarvra. The animals scattered away from the area as she crushed the leaves below her. The trees were so close together that the birds hopped from one tree to another. Faorn smiled. Maybe the blue planet wasn't that different from hers. But she was wrong. As soon as she stood at the edge of the forest, she saw a house. It was unlike any of the houses she had seen before. It looked so perfect, so well constructed. _This house could last through the worst storm_. Faorn thought. She moved closer to it, nearing the house.

Her face was a look of confusion. _A glass door._ She said with wonder. It was really the back door of the house, a sliding door to any average blue world human. But she was Natarvric, and had the least idea of how the sliding door worked. She grabbed the handle and yanked. The handle, made of a mysterious substance, probably which Vactroina called 'plastic', squeaked in protest. Faorn rubbed her chin. Staring at the handle, she tried yanking the door open. Nothing happened. _This door is definitely Natarvric-proof. _Faorn thought miserably. She pulled the handle this way and that, and decided to use brute force. She took a running start and slammed into the door. She grimaced, and tried again. It was definitely making a racket. She was about to start again, when a man who looked in his twenties came rushing to the door on the inside.


	2. Like a Fancy Inn, Only Permanent

**A/N: Second Chapter written by Stephanie**

Even from the fourth floor of the apartment building, Chris could hear the banging on the back door. After five minutes had past, he realized that no one else was going to open it, so he unwillingly got up.

"I'll be back in a sec," He told Katyria. The two of them had been finalizing the elements plan. "Some teenager probably has to use the bathroom or something."

Rushing down the stairs, he reached the back hallway just in time to see a young woman with blue hair about to charge at the door.

"Hey," he shouted, tugging the old sliding glass door open. "What do you want?"

The blue-haired girl started at him, then the door, then back.

"So _that's_ how it opens!" She exclaimed.

"Um, yes…" Chris said. "Haven't you ever seen a sliding door before?"

"No," She said happily.

Chris considered backing away. This was sounding disturbingly like Katyria's first reaction to the door. He considered asking this strange lady if she was some ancient species that was here before humankind, but decided against it.

"Well then… is there anything I can do for you?" He asked politely.

The strange woman opened her mouth, then paused to think about her answer. She started to speak again, but stopped. She looked confused and slightly irritated.

***

_Damn,_ Faorn thought to herself. What was she supposed to say? 'Excuse me, but I'm from a different world, and I came here through a magic portal because I want to learn more about your world, and how on earth you manage to build such amazing houses without magic?' Yeah, that sounds good… oh wait… Right, to a non-magic user, that would sound completely ridiculous… Did they even know about the _Between_? How could they without magic? But then… how did they build this place without it? So many questions, so few ways to pose them… and she didn't even know anything about their culture, so she might say something extremely rude at any moment.

_At least we speak the same language_, she thought gratefully. It would be awful if she had issues with even understanding these people.

***

Chris could see that the girl wasn't quite sure what to say. Smiling slightly, he took pity on her.

"Come on inside," he welcomed. "Here, I was just about to have lunch. Come join me."

Nodding gratefully, the girl thanked him and followed him into the building.

_Yes_! Faorn cheered silently to herself. These people were hospitable!

She stopped to examine the door as she passed through, nearly tripping over the step. Chris reached out a hand to steady her.

"You alright?"

"Yeah, thanks!" She smiled self-consciously. Great, first day in a new world, and she was already being a klutz.

She watched with interest as Chris slid the glass door shut, mentally memorizing how he did it so that she could get out later.

He rolled his eyes as he led her into the main room. "No lock," he explained. "This place has the crappiest security in the world."

Faorn felt slightly nervous at this. "The worst security in this entire world?" She asked.

Chris paused. This really _did_ feel like something Katyria would say.

"No," he clarified, "But the fact that we don't even have a lock on the back door is a little unsafe. Anyone could break in. I suppose that if I lived in a grass hut somewhere out in Africa, I'd have the worst security in the world. But if I did, then I probably wouldn't have anything to steal."

Faorn shook her head. This guy was strange. She smiled ruefully at herself. Normally, by now she would have passed one of her famous witty or sarcastic comments. Unfortunately, she didn't know how well that would blow over in this world, so she kept her mouth shut.

As Chris led her up the iron stairs, she asked him another question.

"Do you own this _entire_ building?" She queried.

"Huh? Oh, no," He laughed. "I just live in the right half of the fourth floor. It's an apartment building."

Chris expected her to get this, but the only reply he received was an "Uh… huh…"

Biting his lip to prevent a chuckle, Chris elaborated. "You know, how there's a landlord – or in my case, landlady – who owns the building, and rents out sets of rooms to people."

Faorn considered it. It was like having a suite in an inn, except living there permanently.

"Isn't it a little strange?" She asked before she could stop herself. "Don't you want a house of your own?"

"Uh, well, I grew up in my parent's house, but now that I'm an adult I'm on my own. My current job isn't exactly the best, so a small apartment is pretty much the only thing my budget fits."

"Oh," Faorn said. "Sorry, I didn't mean to – "

Chris laughed again. "It's okay, I'm not fussy about my financial station.

_After all,_ he thought to himself,_ Once I'm God, I won't need to worry about that anymore._

"Here we are," he announced out loud once they reached the fourth floor. Withdrawing his key from his pocket, he opened the door and held it for Faorn.

"Finally, a normal door," she muttered to herself. Chris caught the comment and shot her a weird look.

Faorn looked around. It _was_ pretty small, compared to her friend's house, but it was better than most places she'd stayed during her journeys. They were in what looked like a cross between a bedroom and a living room. She saw a kitchen through an open door, and strange, small tiled room on the other side, although that appeared to be the extent of the place.

"What, another girlfriend?"

Chris winced, but fortunately, Faorn hadn't touched phospherant, so she couldn't hear Katyria's comment. "She's not my girlfriend. Shut up." He whispered.

Faorn, famous for her hearing, was so distracted that she only caught the last part. "Who are you talking to?" She asked, wondering who else he could shut up.

"Uh, no one!" Chris chuckled nervously. "There's just a little bug by my ear. It was buzzing really loudly."

"Ah… huh," she said. She supposed she could believe him, for now.


	3. The Invisible Person Talks Too Much

**A/N: Chapter Three written by Adri**

"What's up with the blue hair? I thought human hair colors only range from blond to black." Katyria asked, with a quizzical expression drawn on her face.

"Uh…" Chris paused. "Could you not talk at this moment?" His words were barely audible, but they were heard clearly by Faorn. The transition between worlds and the _Between_ caused many changes. It turned her hair a permanent blue, which also had exponential growth—it was always in need of a haircut. She shot up several inches, and her hearing sharpened. In ways, she was lucky. For all she knew, she could have grown passed her six-foot frame, or possibly have lost her hearing or vision. He would have explained the process of hair coloring to Katyria, but he himself was starting to doubt that fact that Faorn's hair might have been unreal.

"What?" Faorn demanded. "Who are you talking to, and what is this hoax that you are playing at?" The blue world humans were so infuriating! Well, at least _this_ one was. It seemed as though he was hallucinating, or talking to an invisible person in this room.

_Wait._ Faorn wondered. _Maybe there _is _magic on this world. It could be a cloaking spell of invisibility—just like the spells Vactriona uses sometimes._

To her, it was the only logical explanation.

"Is there another person in this room?" Faorn finally spoke.

Chris was definitely nervous now. He had every right to be. Two other-worldly girls were in the same room, and both had been able to identify each other's presence. Chris's answer hadn't come out of his mouth fast enough, and with that, Faorn clarified that there really was another person in this room.

"So, how is this person concealed?" Faorn pressed farther. "Another blue world contraption?"

Chris stared back at her with bewilderment, and then chuckled. "I stole Harry Potter's cloak of invisibility." He cracked up at his own joke, and doubled over laughing. Faorn stared at him with disbelief. These humans had very, _very_ handy inventions.

"Cloak of invisibility?" Faorn echoed, "I would like to get one of those, maybe for a souvenir."

Chris immediately stopped laughing, "Okay, I was kidding. You weren't supposed to take that seriously. Have you ever heard of a joke?"

"Have you ever heard that I will kick you in the groin so_ hard_, you will feel the _worst _pain you've had in your _life_?" Faorn snapped. She took a step forward.

The blue world man backed up to the door frame leading to the kitchen, "Hey, I never meant to say anything to hurt your feelings—" Chris started.

"'Hurt my feelings'? You humans are so irritating! If only I could just send you to the abyss, so I won't have anything to do with you anymore." Faorn said heatedly.

"I agree with her for the first part. You humans really can get on my nerves." Katyria agreed. "And have you noticed that she said 'you humans'? She's not from this world, Chris."

"I think I can see that." He muttered. "She's already caught on to the fact that you're invisible to her."

"The other person is not deaf, and nor am I!" Faorn snarled. "That person has definitely been here during the conversation. They would have realized I knew." After her last parts of her journeys in Natarvra, she had been turned into a were-hawk, which was a shapeshifter that could shift between a human, and their animal. Hers happened to be a hawk. And if she had been a wolf, she would have shifted right here, right now, and would have bitten Chris's head off.

"She's very right." Katyria agreed. "Chris? There's something about her. In the end, we may need to expose her to phospherant. Maybe she could help us. First, you should figure out how different she is from you."

"I thought I was going to be God." Chris groaned.

Faorn turned on him, "The gods would never accept a human to be a god! It is highly foolish, and even the gods themselves make mistakes because they can be greedy." Even though she did not know much about Natarvric Gods and Goddesses, she still knew about the great mistake, in which the Goddess of Light became corrupted, and tried to force the other gods and goddesses to bow down before her. She was over thrown, and they had vowed never to do such a thing throughout their immortal lives.


	4. Enter the Tasteless Lawn Decoration

**Chapter Four: written by Stephanie**

"Okay! Okay already!" Chris said. "Jeez… truce! Truce!"

Faorn crossed her arms. "Fine."

Chris, sensing that the attack was paused (for now), started breathing again.

"Okay," he said. "First – what do you mean 'blue world contraption'?"

Faorn sighed. "Well you've probably already guessed that I'm not from your world. Your planet, which I believe is called 'earth' – silly, really, it's got all four elements – was recently discovered by a mage friend of mine. So, I travelled through the _Between_ to study your world and see what I could learn from it.

"Uh… mage?" Chris asked.

"Are you slow?" Faorn snapped. "Mage, a magic user. She's a red mage and specializes in fire."

"Um… good to know. Chris said. He had plenty more questions, but it seemed that Faorn had a worse temper than Katyria, so he doubted she'd be very patient with him.

"Then what's the between?" Chris asked.

Faorn supposed that at least this question deserved an answer. Not everyone in Natarvra knew about the _Between_ either. "The _Between_ is a portal of sorts that allows powerful mages like myself to pass through to different world."

Chris considered the possibilities. Endless.

"That sounds… incredible." Chris said. "You must find our little world very dull."

"Well, I am concerned with how you manage to build houses so high with no magic," Faorn told him, referring to the six-story apartment building.

Chris snorted. "You call this high?" He asked. "We need to show you a skyscraper."

"A machine that scrapes the sky!" Faorn gasped. "How dare you! To steal from the sky itself-"

"No, no, you don't get it," Chris tried to calm her down. " 'Skyscraper' is the name given to very tall buildings. It's because, from the ground, it looks like they're heading up into the sky itself."

"Hmm…" Faorn was still skeptical. Ever since this human mention "being god," she'd had issues with trusting him.

Chris smiled through the light sweat on his temple. He'd made some mistakes, but that was because he'd been startled. It wouldn't happen again. Who knows, he could form an alliance with these… magic-users. He kept himself from grinning. This could propel their plans forward by months. No, he wouldn't make any more mistakes… now that his wits were back, the chances of letting something slip when so much was at stake was minimal, less than zero. Chris Paulson was a smart man, yes, a man capable of becoming God.

"Here, would you like me to show you?" He offered. "Downtown – that is, the main part of the city, where the skyscrapers are – is just a few minute's drive away."

"Drive?" She asked. "I didn't see a stable, or a carriage."

"Eh…" Chris very nearly did an anime-esque sweatdrop. "You have some things to learn."

_Great. Just great. To any REAL gods out there, please let me survive this car ride._

"I'll explain on the way down," Chris said, getting up to open the door.

"Woah, you're not taking me anywhere," Faorn said. "Not until you explain about our eavesdropper.

"Ah. That." Chris had half-hoped that Katyria would be forgotten, but hadn't actually expected it. "Well, besides humans, there's another species living here called the Hyiephyr. They're invisible for the most part. Katyria's one of them." He nodded over his shoulder at Katyria.

"Hmm." Faorn supposed she had little choice but to trust this man. "Fine. But if you are lying, or plan to kidnap me, then you will experience a very painful castration."

Chris winced. "Then I won't kidnap you," he said, trying to lighten the mood as he opened the door.

"Is… the Hyiephyr going to come as well?" Faorn asked.

Chris frowned. It had taken him several tries to get the name right; how come this "other-worlder" was able to get it the first time?

"Yes, Katyria's coming too." He said. Fortunately, Mrs. Whithall, the other fourth-floor dweller, was hard of hearing.

They went downstairs and out to the parking lot, where Chris once again took his keys from his pocket.

"What are those for?" Faorn asked. "There aren't any doors out here."

In answer, Chris unlocked his Chevy and opened the passenger door for her.

Faorn glanced at the contraption untrustingly. "You want me to get into you distasteful lawn decoration?" She asked.

"Um… it's called a car." Chris explained. "You get in," He demonstrated by getting in on the driver's side, "Start it, and turn the wheel and push the pedals to make it go. It's a means of transport."

"She really is from another world," Katyria commented, getting into the backseat. "Even _I_ know what cars are."

Faorn jumped. "Another door just opened and closed."

Chris chuckled. "Oh, Katyria just got in. She likes the backseat."

Faorn suspiciously got into the car, on the passenger side, and gingerly closed the door.

"Uh, you've got to close it hard," Chris said. "It's an older model – the door needs to be fully closed before I can start driving."

"Oh," Faorn said, slamming it shut. The car shuddered.

"That works!" Chris said, shooting her a smile as he fastened his seatbelt.

Seeing that Faorn wasn't doing anything, he remembered she knew nothing of cars.

"Here, you've got to fasten the seatbelt," he told her, tugging at his own.

"Why?" Faorn asked. "Trying to trap me?"

"No," Chris said. "But if we get into an accident, the seatbelt will prevent you from flying out the front window."

She glared at him. "Does that happen often?"

"Nah," he said. "But we like to keep people safe. It's even a law."

Unwillingly, Faorn picked up the two seatbelt halves and tried to fit them together.

After two minutes, Chris realized that this wasn't going anywhere, and reached over to fasten it for her.

He soon received a bruising smack.

"Pervert!" Faorn yelled.

"Ow…" Chris said. "I was just helping you."

She sneered at him. "Fine. Just go."

Sullenly she crossed her arms.

Sighing, Chris started the car.


	5. A Car Is Not the Best Pet Option

**Chapter 5: Written by Adri**

As Chris was driving, Faorn felt amazed. This car was super efficient, compared to a horse. But still, she missed her world. As the car road over a bump, she thought her stomach had just died. She clutched her stomach as Chris turned a jerky left.

"Ohhh, of all the grace of Sarian, please save me from this mechanical demon." Faorn moaned, begging to the goddess of hunting, even though no such thing in relation to Natarvra would be able to hear her.

"Its harder than it looks." Chris responded, his eyes focusing on driving. Faorn stared at the wheel intently, watching as Chris turned the wheel right and left, controlling the car. It was all a wonder to her. Vactriona was right the blue world was something worth living in. With just a step of a pedal, the car would accelerate. With just another step, the car would brake. It didn't make sense to her how the cars could do that. She clawed at the speakers the moment music came out of them.

"What is that?" She gasped.

"A radio. You've never heard of— oh, never mind. A radio is a music station that people can listen to when they're at home, in their car, and other places."

At least Faorn could understand the basics.

"Chris, I must say, you suck at driving." Katyria commented during the ride after he had almost run a red light.

"Yeah, well, half of my skills rusted up when I was thrown in jail." Chris said as he turned another jerky left.

"You went to jail? Is the blue world jails similar to our dungeons?" Faorn asked.

"Uh, I guess. Maybe a bit more sanitary."

"What did you do?" Faorn continued.

"Nothing." That was Chris's unexpected answer. He parked his car near the sidewalk. He had never been the best at parallel parking.

"Nothing? You were sent to jail for doing nothing? That's very vulgar." Faorn's look was full of disgust. The car stopped, and the door on the opposite side of Faorn opened. Faorn wasn't alarmed that time, finally knowing that the Hyiephyr would always be invisible to her.

"It's not like that." Chris said, unbuckling his seatbelt. "They just thought wrong. Justice is hard—oh, you press the red button to unbuckle yourself.'

That was easier for Faorn, and she opened the door, and slammed it. Hard. The car shuddered, and Chris was thinking, _Poor car_. Then something popped into his head that he had never mentioned before.

"What's your name, anyways?"

"…Faorn." She said. Then she mentally slapped herself. She should have given out a fake name. _I figure I can trust them_. She thought.

Then Faorn gasped in awe. "Look, there are more cars!" They were all parked neatly at the side of the streets. Faorn walked up to a smart car. It was streaked with silver paint, with a deep, dark, blue as a base color. The car was abandoned of its owner, with its windows rolled up, and it being locked.

"I like this." Faorn said, and then turned around to Chris, "Can I keep it?"

"No!" Chris said, aghast, "You can't steal another person's car! Plus, you wouldn't be able to get into it. The doors are locked."

Faorn looked around. There was a fairly large rock by her feet. She picked it up, and brought it over her head—

"Faorn—!"

There was a crash of glass as she brought brute force down on the window. Faorn grinned ear to ear, and tossed the stone away, while Chris groaned in exasperation.

"Its mine now!" Faorn said happily, getting ready to haul her slender body through the window.

"No! You can't have the car!" Chris said. He was horrified about what she had done.

"The car's alarm had already been disabled." Katyria commented. "I think you should restrain Faorn from doing certain things until she understands your society."

"Why me?" Chris asked himself miserably.

Faorn finally forsook the idea of hijacking cars, and Chris dumped some quarters into the parking meter. Faorn's eyes widened at the idea.

"Why do you feed the machine that?" She asked.

"So we're allowed to park here." Chris said.

"What will happen if you don't pay?"

"Then you'll be towed."

Chris kept finding the most confusing words for Faorn.

"Towed—?"

" Never mind. You can just say that bad things happen if you don't follow the rules."

Faorn was content with that answer. She, Chris, and Katyria made their way down the sidewalks. To Chris's horror, Faorn never full understood the system of traffic lights:


	6. The Ellavyta Elevator and Authoresses

**A/N: Sorry about the delay! It's November, so I'm busy working on my NaNovel.**

**Chapter 6 written by Stephanie**

It had all started out well enough. "Okay, we'll just cross this street," Chris had said.

"Okay!" Faorn replied, stepping out onto the busy street.

"No!" Chris shouted, catching her arm and dragging her back. She gave him a confused look.

"What? You said cross the street, so I was crossing the street!"

Chris gritted his teeth. "If you just walk out, you're going to get run over!"

"'Run over'?" Faorn asked.

"I mean, a car will crash into you, and you will be pushed under its wheels, where you will get crushed and die," Chris said slowly.

Faorn looked at the street with horror. "It's like swimming across a channel full of starving sharks," she whispered.

"Here," Chris guided her over to the crosswalk. "You see these lines? How they make a path?" Faorn nodded. "Once it's time to cross, you walk across this and no one will run over you."

"How do you know when it's time?" Faorn asked.

Chris worked on how to phrase it. "You see this pole here?" Faorn nodded again. "When you want to walk across, you press this button. Then you wait. The button sends a signal to the pole across the street. Then it waits until less cars then normal are coming, and turns on that red light" here Chris pointed up to the traffic lights, "So that all cars coming this way know that they have to stop. Once it's done that, you'll see a picture of a walking person light up on the pole on the other side of the street. Then you know that you have about two minutes to walk across to the other side."

"Umm…"

"Did you get all of that?" Chris asked.

"Some of it."

"Well, which part didn't you get?"

"The part after 'You press this button'."

Chris nearly died right there. "Okay, let's try again. You press this button, then wait until that picture of a walking figure lights up."

"Okay!" Faorn said. She pressed the button.

After about three minutes, while Faorn grew steadily more impatient, the "walk" sign finally lit up.

"Yes!" Faorn yelled. "Success!"

Chris started walking across, and Faorn cut her victory celebration short to accompany him.

After a few more blocks and near-death-inducing crosses, they'd reached downtown.

"Look up," Chris murmured to Faorn. She did… and her breath was taken away.

"They really do scrape the sky…" She breathed.

Chris smiled. "Would you like to go to the top?" He asked.

"Are you kidding?" She asked. "It would take forever to get up the stairs!"

Chris laughed a little. "Here, I'll show you another useful little invention. It's called an elevator."

"You never took _me_ to the top of a skyscraper," Katyria complained.

"Hush. You never asked." Chris replied. Faorn looked around before remembering Katyria's existence.

The three went inside, and Faorn was immediately alert as she saw people scurrying too and fro. With Chris's hand at her elbow to keep her from getting pulled by the crowd, they slowly made their way over to the elevators. Faorn eyed the cold metal doors with distaste.

"Is this an ellavyta?" She asked.

"Elevator," Chris corrected automatically. "And yes."

"What does it do?"

Chris smiled. "Watch." He held up his finger, then pressed a button with a phallus ^ symbol on it.

Faorn gave him a strange look. "Why did you just press a button with a phallus on it?" She asked.

Chris twitched. "It's an arrow pointing up," he explained. "Now, pick a door, and try to guess which one will open."

"What happens if I get it right?" Faorn asked.

"I don't know. You get a cookie."

"Cookie?"

Chris stared at her. "You've never had a cookie?" He asked.

"No. What is it?"

"Heaven." Chris said, and left it at that.

Shrugging, Faorn pointed at the left elevator. Chris looked to the right.

Within a few seconds, the light above Faorn's elevator lit up, and the doors opened. Faorn jumped back.

"What is this?" She asked.

Chris restrained her from attacking the opening. "Since we pressed the button, it knows that we want to get in, so it opened the doors for us."

Gently he led Faorn inside the elevator, let Katyria get in, and pressed the button for the top floor.

The elevator gave a little jerk, then started up. Faorn stumbled and fell, but Chris caught her.

"Look out," he said, and Faorn obediently looked to the back wall, which was actually a huge window looking outside.

She gasped. "It's amazing! We're rising up into the air!"

She hesitantly touched the window, the looked out, hungrily enjoying the view.

On the 16th floor, the elevator stopped.

"Oh, is this as high as it goes?" Faorn asked, disappointed.

"No, someone else wants to get on," Chris said.

Sure enough, the doors opened, and two girls got on. One had blonde hair past her hips and blue eyes, and the other had straight, glossy black hair and brown eyes behind delicate glasses. They both looked to be in their early teens and were carrying coffee cups filled with hot chocolate.

"Hey," the blonde said to Chris and Faorn, looking curiously at Chris. The smaller girl, with the black hair, nodded a hello. Chris and Faorn said hi back. The blonde girl stepped back, right into the corner where Katyria was leaning. Chris inhaled quickly. Fortunately, Katyria managed to zoom up at the last moment, ruffling the girl's hair. The girl froze, and felt the back of her head with confusion. Then she looked up. And looked down. And stared at her friend, who was staring at Faorn with disbelief.

"What is it?" Faorn snapped, self-conscious. "Is it the hair? Huh?"

The two girls looked at each other.

"Adri?" The blonde said.

"Yeah, Stephanie?"

"I think we have an issue."

"Me too."

Stephanie, the blonde, started to whisper, but Adri shushed her, glancing at Faorn. Stephanie nodded and pulled out a notebook, which she proceeded to scribble furiously in. Chris watched in confusion as she held it so that only she and Adri could see it, and not even Katyria could look.

***

"Hey, Adri, do you think-"

"SHH!" Adrianna cut off her friend's whisper, glancing at Faorn. Stephanie nodded, and pulled out her notebook.

_Is it just me, or do those two look an awful lot like Chris and Faorn?_She wrote.

Adrianna took the pencil and scribbled back, _No, I see it too. And you saw the girl's attitude. It's definitely Faorn._

_Good,_ Stephanie wrote back, _Because I swear by the Gods I just saw Katyria hovering above me._

Adrianna glanced up. _I don't see anything._

_It's probably because I'm her author. I've touched "phospherant," seeing as I invented it, so I can see her._

_ I vote we follow them._

_ Agreed._

Stephanie put away the notebook, and the two acted as if nothing had happened.

"Sorry," Adri apologized to Faorn. "It's really cool hair."

"Thanks…" Faorn replied.

Then they were at the top floor.


End file.
